- Ethiopia: Birtukan Mideksa re-arrested by federal police

Ethiopia: Birtukan Mideksa re-arrested by federal police

Jimma Times - Dec 29, 2008 - Ethiopian federal police rearrested opposition leader Birtukan Mideksa a year after she was released on a pardon following her arrest during the country's disputed 2005 elections.

Mideksa, a leader of the now-dissolved Coalition for Unity and Democracy, was taken into custody today, said Temesgen Zewde, a lawmaker, who is a member of Mideksa's new party, Unity for Democracy and Justice.

"She has been arrested," Zewde said in an interview in the capital, Addis Ababa. "No charges have been made public yet. We don't know exactly where she is being held."

Mideksa was arrested after refusing to acknowledge that she had requested a pardon that led to her release from jail in July 2007, said Bereket Simon, a spokesman for PM Meles Zenawi. She and dozens of other opposition leaders were initially jailed following the 2005 elections and sentenced to life in prison following a May 2007 trial on treason charges. Read More.